Why Buy?

In ancient times, all brands in any industry had to do was create great product and perhaps take some pages in a magazine or newspaper so people knew about it. It was pretty simple.

Fast forward to 2014 and brands have to do that, but thy also have to create riveting print & digital advertising/marketing campaigns, extensive social media campaigns where customers can learn, engage, be entertained and be promoted to with special, exclusive opportunities. They have to have brand ambassadors (celebrity or otherwise) who their target customers can relate or aspire to and at the end of this very long courting process, the customer MIGHT, possibly buy.

Brands have become the geeky guy at prom who is trying to get the attention of prom queen. Sure he may be cute underneath those tortoise glasses and super smart. He may offer you the dance of a lifetime, but SHE has to notice him in a room filled with SO many choices.

So what’s a brand to do? For me as a Marketing/PR girl (& customer) it starts with the product. If the product isn’t good it doesn’t really matter what back flips a brand does to get me to buy. Sure I may buy once, but if the product falls apart, trust me I'm not going back. So many things come into play when making a purchase, after all, you have worked really hard to make that money, it matters how you spend it.

Speaking for myself, I have to be inspired. I don’t really need anything, but I tend to want a lot. I would venture to guess a lot of you really don’t “need” a lot too. Sure it would be great to get a new Fall coat, but the truth is your coat from two years ago still looks pretty good. So why buy a new one?

That’s where aspiration comes in. No industry can move you like Fashion. There is nothing else you can buy that can actually change your mood, make you feel confident and even happy. Putting on a new dress that you bought that day (I can never wait) can actually make you feel phenomenal. You’re the envy of your friends because you look fabulous, but what’s more important is that you feel fabulous.

So I'm curious what motivates you to buy?

A)    amazing design

B)   need

C)   retail therapy

D)   a friends recommendation

What are you most influenced by:

1)    Print advertising/marketing

2)    Online advertising

3)    Promotions

4)    Social Media

5)    Editorial

6)    Celebrity

7)    Word of mouth

A girl wants to know… leave your comments below or feel free to tweet me @styledbysashay using hashtag #iBuy.

You can choose more than one answer because we all know it’s probably a lot of the above.